IHOP — Restaurant in National City

This would have been a 5 star review. My sister and I went to iHop to use our birthday coupons (our birthdays are in late November). We were seated promptly by our hostess, whom we informed that we had our birthday coupons. We asked our hostess what kind of pancakes we can use as described in the email. We were told that we could order ANY stack of pancakes (excluding combos). She told us to tell our waitress.

Our waitress, Chrissy, greeted us politely and happily. We told her what we told the hostess. Same answer: any stack of pancakes for free. The restaurant was crazy busy. We were so impressed with Chrissy. She was busting her ass, she had such a positive vibe, and she genuinely cared about providing the best service to her customers (we watched how she served other tables). She was so wonderful that we gave her a $10 tip (if I was able to afford it, we would've given more).

This iHop would have gotten 5 stars from me.... but then we were met by the lady, May, at the front. We presented our birthday coupons and....May just didn't know what to do. She complicated everything and then the manager had to come out and things were still screwed up. It seemed that May didn't know the simple process of splitting a check.

What happened exactly? My sister and I had to stand for nearly 10 mins while May and the manager tried to process our birthday coupons. Only one coupon would go through since my sister and I were at one table. For some reason, May didn't split the check. They just couldn't figure it out. The manager then told us that we'd only pay for one meal and we'd be discounted instead, and to come back another time with one of our coupons. And when he gave us our total, the discount wasn't even there... Luckily, my sister didn't take that offer and called them out on the bullsh*t. We went there for our free pancakes. We were told by both employees that they'd be free for us both.

So they called Chrissy (the super waitress) to the front AND SHE SOLVED THE PROBLEM in a couple of minutes. Splitting the bill isn't rocket science. But May and the manager just couldn't do it.

As my sister and I were finally leaving, we saw the manager berating Chrissy.

I really hope she does not get fired for the mess...

Went in at 0230ish and stood in the entrance/pay area for roughly 10 minutes and watched one employee stare at the terminal screen before I was greeted and seated. Upon arriving at my booth the employee asked what I would like to drink, "Coffee" I replied. He then attempted to ask me a follow up question but I couldn't understand due to his lack of skill in the English language. After he repeated himself a few times I figured out he was asking if I wanted cream, to which I replied no. I then sat there for 17 minutes before my waitress came out and said "hello what do you want". I placed my order and again asked for the coffee that I previously ordered with the man who had originally sat me. The food and coffee came out shortly after and I was in shock at how absolutely half-assed the omelette and pancakes were made. I realize it is an IHOP and not a 5 star critically acclaimed restaurant, but I mean c'mon. The man who sat me brought out my check before I could attempt to eat the dry, flavorless pancakes. I ate as much as I could and then quickly went to the paying area. The man swiped my card and brought me two pieces of paper, one was a receipt and one was a check. He then hovered over me and as I drew a magnificent "0" in the tip box he pointed at the other paper and said "no, you're supposed to give 20... 20 percent". I looked up at him, stared, and then resumed in writing the original total and then finishing by giving my John Handcock. He repeated himself multiple times saying "Sir, 20 percent, hello, 20 percent." Absolutely terrible service and absolutely terrible employees to have "running" the front. Welcome to America brother, not everyone is just going to give you a tip, you're going to have to work for what you want. I wish I could give a 0 star rating. 0/10; would...

Originally I'd have rated it 4 stars from past experiences with this place but this just left a bad taste. I called in 30 minutes before we left the house (we live roughly 5 minutes away). I had to call 4 times before someone finally picked up the phone. I was constantly having to repeat myself and every so often, the person on the phone would start talking to someone else and completely ignore me. By the time I was even HALF WAY done with the phone order (only consisting of 3 items), it was 30 minutes later and we were just about to arrive so I told them I'd just go in and order becuase she couldn't get it right. My aunt became frustrated and just told me to take hers off so it just became 2 orders. I was trying to be understanding, thinking that they were just busy since it was around 6 p.m., until we got there to find that their were barely any people seated. But we still ordered and were told that it would be a 10-15 minute wait (something we were trying to avoid). While waiting, the same person at the desk left and no one was at the front until our food was ready. Multiple people came in and were not noticed until seating themselves or already back out the front doors. A "customer" could have went behind the register and I doubt they'd notice. After finally getting our food, we left home....came back with an overpriced omelette of $19 where they forgot the sauce and the side and a swiss and mushroom burger w/fries. The burger looked good, the fries looked like they had...